March 30, 2012 - Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX),
one of the leading private companies working to restore
America’s ability to carry astronauts to the Space
Station, announced it has assembled a team of outside
experts to help the company create the world’s safest
human spaceflight system.

“When it comes to manned spaceflight, safety is our top
priority,” said SpaceX CEO and Chief Designer, Elon
Musk. “These experts will provide us with important
insights as we prepare to carry astronauts on the next
generation of American spacecraft.”

Space Exploration Technologies Corporation, or more
popularly and informally known as SpaceX, is an American
space transport company headquartered in Hawthorne,
California.

It was
founded in 2002 by former PayPal entrepreneur Elon Musk. It has
developed the Falcon 1 and Falcon 9 space boosters, both of
which are built with a goal of becoming reusable launch
vehicles. SpaceX is also developing the Dragon spacecraft to be
flown into orbit by the Falcon 9 launch vehicle.

In order to
control quality and costs, SpaceX designs, tests and fabricates
the majority of their components in-house, including the Merlin,
Kestrel, and Draco rocket engines used on the Falcon launch
vehicles and the Dragon spacecraft. In 2006, NASA awarded the
company a Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS)
contract to design and demonstrate a launch system to resupply
cargo to the International Space Station (ISS). On 9 December
2010, the launch of the COTS Demo Flight 1 mission, SpaceX
became the first privately-funded company to successfully
launch, orbit and recover a spacecraft.

NASA has also awarded SpaceX a contract to develop and
demonstrate a human-rated Dragon as part of its Commercial Crew
Development (CCDev) program to transport crew to the ISS. SpaceX
is planning its first crewed Dragon/Falcon9 flight in 2015, when
it expects to have a fully certified, human-rated launch escape
system incorporated into the spacecraft.

The independent Safety Advisory Panel is composed of leading
human spaceflight safety experts, including several former NASA
astronauts and senior NASA officials. Among the experts joining
the SpaceX Safety Advisory Panel are:

- Dr. Leroy Chiao,
PhD, Former NASA astronaut, Former International Space Station
commander, member of the Augustine Commission (Review of United States
Human Spaceflight Plans Committee).

The panel will provide objective assessments of the
safety of the Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket to
help SpaceX maintain the highest level of safety. The
panel will convene in the fall of 2012 and will continue
its work well after SpaceX begins flying people to
space.